Young Britons are getting squeezed out of tech and finance jobs

New research shows young people in the UK are being pushed out of high-paying sectors like tech and finance. It adds hard numbers to a jobless crisis that has been building quietly for Generation Z. The numbers behind the squeeze Start with tech. Payroll jobs for 18-24-year-olds in the sector are down approximately 30% over the last three years, through late 2025. Narrow it to IT professionals specifically, and employment among 16-24-year-olds fell by roughly 20% between 2022 and 2025. Entry-level software engineering hiring dropped 27% in a single year. Tech graduate positions fell 46% year-on-year. Overall graduate hiring is down 8%, the first decline since 2020. Finance and professional services are telling a similar story. Finance roles for 18-24-year-olds have also fallen sharply, and the Big Four accounting firms are trimming their pipelines. KPMG has cut its graduate intake by 29%. Deloitte has reduced its intake by 18%. A wider youth employment problem The Institute for Fiscal Studies reports the share of young people in payrolled employment fell by 4.3 percentage points from late 2022 to the end of 2025, equating to about 330,000 people. The NEET rate, which tracks young p...